Legal Community Mourns Stinson

By Rebekah Hearn

Judge William David Stinson Jr. died Wednesday at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis. He was 82.

Stinson served as a Shelby County General Sessions judge from 1970 to 1982. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he was assigned to the 231st Chemical Depot Company, which was sent to Okinawa and arrived just after the Japanese surrendered in World War II. Stinson spent one year in Okinawa guarding Japanese prisoners. He was discharged in 1946 as a sergeant, after which he returned to his education.

He attended the University of Virginia, where he developed a strong interest in the life and works of Thomas Jefferson. He completed his bachelor’s degree and his juris doctorate at the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Stinson then served as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court in Memphis, during which time he met his wife, Rosemary Nelms. He later was a law clerk on the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. After his judicial service, Stinson practiced law in Bolivar for 20 years.

He is survived by his wife, Rosemary; his son, William David Stinson III, who is a Memphis obstetrician; his daughter, Ellen Rardin, and three grandchildren: Mary Clark Goodlett Rardin, Madeline Rose Phillips Rardin and William David Stinson IV.

Funeral services were held Friday at the Bolivar Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Memorials may be sent to the Bolivar church or the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn.